It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last week Airline. Welcome back to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television. Each episode you will get a front row seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors and casting agents,
plus the talent we see on our screens. TV Reload reloads the shows that you're currently watching and gives you a better insight into our television industry and our streaming services. Today on the podcast, I have the latest eliminated queen from Rupoul's Drag Race down Under series two. It's Aubrey Have. The very talented contestant swapped New Zealand for Melbourne a few years back and found a passion for dragt during
the pandemic, and this rise to success has been quite fast. However, she has found herself on the latest series of the popular franchise RuPaul's Drag Race. Wow. There has been plenty of drama in the series so far and plenty of talented queens, with fans noticing a huge improvement in this second series. However, the pressure has been noticed right across the board, and like today's guest, a few of the contestants have gotten inside their heads with a shock exit
in Aubrey, leaving fans absolutely gagged. We will talk about that moment. It all came crumbling down, some of the drama happening at the hands of Minnie Cooper, who she'd like to see in the next series if there's a series three, and some shady answers that will have you shook. So let's get started with today's guest. I'd like to welcome Aubrey. Have to TV reload.
At times it felt a little bit gas lighting previously on RuPaul's Drag Race.
Down Under and maybe young, but I've got something to prove, ladies.
Welcome to the Alte No Shade pageant. That was one intentional.
Abrey Hays, Umbury Hay.
The drag here in Melbourne is incredible and I really hope that we get to see more of it.
You are a young and talented queen and I cannot wait to see what.
You do next.
I really had nothing to lose and only a shit tone to gain.
Hi there, how are you.
I'm good? How are you?
I'm doing really well? I should probably say get a good A good a right, Yeah, And there are a few australianisms and New zealandisms that sort of cross over the seas I ever used in New Zealand because I know that you're from New Zealand but now living in Melbourne. But is that something that is used in New Zealand.
Yeah, I think so.
I've definitely said get a a few times in a little old New Zealand there.
Yeah, I just need to jump in and say something. I really thought that you were brilliant. I really thought that you seemed polished, professional, as a package deal, someone who could really even compete in the original US series.
I stop there.
It's so true though, Like I just thought you're aesthetic. It was making me think of of Art Simone, but also making me think of Courtney Acting. I just thought that you had a really polished look and something to be very proud of.
Oh, thank you so much.
Yeah, no, I look, I work pretty hard on making sure, you know, all of my stuff was really put together. I'm a virgo, so I like overthink everything to the point where it's you know, almost insane. But I think part of that yeah, energy and actually Art Simone is also a verger. I wonder if Courtney is too, so I think it comes with that sort of territory of
just being a little bit of a perfectionist. You know that I deeply care about all of that stuff, so to make sure everything, all my details are very very defined.
Well, when your outfit didn't work well on the catwalk, I felt devastated for you, and like I actually because I had the luxury of watching it, I could quickly rewind it. I actually watch it again because it was it was just a very quick moment of not being able to get this little part out. Up until that point, I just didn't think that it was ever a chance of you going home. Did you think that you go home or feel devastated at that point? Oh?
Yeah, yeah, I was pretty devastated after that runway. I just I was annoyed because I we do everything so quickly for the show, and I just didn't get time to like practice that reveal. And also the reveal is so hard to sort of have to roll the wings all the way back up and get them all ready, and it takes bloody ages to do so I just hadn't even really had a chance to even think about any of that and then you know the runways happening and you're like.
Oh shit, oh my god, I've got to do all this stuff.
And I wanted to make a you know, tell a story and have a real spectacle sort of happen on stage. As a newer queen, sometimes I do get sort of trapped in that idea that I need to really prove myself as like, you know, I may be young, but I've got something to prove. And so I did try to do the absolute most and unfortunately it sort of
let me down a little bit. But yeah, I mean, I will say, though they played it off as the bag, you know, the grubs falling up the bag was it was a mistake that was one hundred percent intentional.
It was all different.
Yeah, no, it's a few people have been a bit like, oh, is that meant to happen? That definitely meant to happen. The only thing that really wasn't meant to happen is that, you know, the wings were meant to just be a nice seamless pull and they fall out and then they look gorgeous and yeah, but unfortunately, you know, we all have wardrobe malfunctions. It happens, and unfortunately it let me down on this case.
Well, sometimes luck, chance and circumstances the real roll of the dice when it comes to succeeding on reality shows. That's how I want to see it. Of course, this year feels quite different to last year. What did you think or what do you think the major differences are when you're comparing the two series.
I think that this cast, because it was sort of we all had to audition, we the cast is more sort of experience wise, is more.
Diverse that we've got, like you know, all the different.
Ages and experience and different places and things like that that we're all coming from. I think that that has really made it a lot more fresh because you've got a lot of different point of views coming into Drag and you're seeing sort of the whole world of down under a drag, I should say, which is really cool. And on top of that, because we're all sort of not I mean, a lot of the Sydney Queens knew each other, but a lot of us didn't because we were sort of all some of us were lesser known
than others. We when we all met each other, we just sort of had this bond because you know, there was no preconceived notions of who each other were, and so we just kind of got to start fresh and we all get along really, really really well, which is, you know, sometimes pretty rare in the drag scene.
Absolutely absolutely. I mean one of the things I wanted to ask you as well was was there a real lack of Melbourne queens this year?
Yeah?
There really was, unfortunately, and you know I did, I did feel a lot of pressure being sort of, you know, starting to drag here in Melbourne. I do think of myself as a Melbourne queen that grew up in Old New Zealand there, which I you know, prag key we of course always since I'm so pretty new to even the Melbourne scene. The girls that I've met there are
just that they're incredible. The drag here in Melbourne is incredible, and I really hope that we get to see more of it if they do more seasons coming up, because yeah, as much as I love the Sydney Queens, the Melbourne Queens to come into drag with a slightly different perspective and we're a little bit more on the sort of campy, creative side at times, and that's the sort of drag
I really love. So I feel very at home in Melbourne and the girls here are so supportive and so talented, so I really hope we get to see more of that.
Who would you like to vouch for in the Drag Race down onto Series three? Like, is there someone you could vouch for?
Well, I mean, I'm definitely biased because my partner also does drag and she's absolutely incredible. The hottest drag queen you will find in Melbourne. I'm a very close second though. So her name is Gloss and then the name fits her.
She's just she's gorgeous.
But there's there's so many. There's like Sabrina, Baby Slatin, Kelly Fornicate. They are part of the jaw Breakers, like a duo there, and that's freaking incredible. There's Max the drag Queen or sorry, Max Drag Queen. Always get the name wrong. She's going to read me for that, love you Max, and yeah, and then the Betty Rose. There's a great queen here. There's like the list would go on, Tillycapulate, I could go on forever. I just have so many drag sisters here that we all get along so well.
And as I was saying earlier, like I feel like that is something that you see in down Under because it's a smaller community. There's not as many queens and things. In general, we all really do get along and sort of lift each other up, which is so so lovely.
When it comes to getting in your head, you know, with the pressure of this show, what could you compare that to? You know, is it like when your teacher at school would ask you to do the times table and you get all flustered? Or was it like going for your driver's last It's like, is there anything that happens in the real world that you could relate that kind of.
Stress to going to prison?
Kidding?
Honestly, I could not say. I could not tell you anything like it was the highest stress like level I've ever been at in my entire life, and I couldn't. I can't really compare it to anything. It's just it's so crazy and like reality TV, I mean, you'll know, is like it's crazy in itself. It's a very sort of pressure cooker environment, and you know, for a reason because it makes great TV and we love.
To watch it. But yeah, it really is pretty hard. I mean, even the lockdowns.
I mean, that's a great way of looking at it because you are sort of isolated outside of the show. You're not really they don't really want you to talk, you know, unless there's a camera in front of you. So unless that camera's on, you're not You're not chatting with the girls and hanging out and having a gay time.
You're really not.
You're just sort of sitting there not talking to each other, which is kind of Really it's like being in lockdown. You just there's no one there. Really, it's both lonely and extremely stressful. But then those moments that you are with the girls, you know, you really do take that. You take it and you use it, which is what makes great TV's It's crazy. Nothing compares, to be honest. Maybe going to the Olympics that might be it, because it really is the drag Olympics.
Reality TV can be a little bit funny at times. I mean, the drama that's happening from Minnie Cooper is actually really fascinating to watch because I can't really work at if she is feeling threatened by other people's behavior or if she's just in her head, like whether or not it's warranted her reactions to some of the things that are going on.
Yeah, I would agree with you on that it is hard to tell what's sort of going on in her mind, because, yeah, even in the first episode there there was sort of that age as a narrative that was being played. But I have to be honest in the room, I didn't really see any of that, and I saw got roped into it, but we were only really ever talking about age more on a factual base, Like it was like, Oh, we're young, and you're you're the older one, like, and we were like, oh, how does that?
You know?
I have nothing but respect for her, because you know, I'm so new to this, I've only got shit to learn, and she's she's a freaking pro. So I'm just watching trying to figure out, you know, how to get better and get to where she is. So I think she sort of maybe feels a little bit threatened at times, and so she's sort of taking that out in a way that is at times.
It felt a little bit gas lighting, if.
I'm to be honest, in the room, and we were sort of being made to feel like we were attacking her when sometimes, honestly, I felt like we were the ones being attacked. So you do get to see a little bit more of that in the room in this episode, which is which is good. But look, honestly, I love
her and she is. We're all fine and we're like no one's I mean, oh, I won't speak for everyone on that, but I'm fine with her one hundred percent, and We've chatted it out and as you see on the episode, we do chat it out and it's it's really I think it is that reality TV sort of environment that is making it all way more than it actually is. But you know what, it's it's making good TV too, So I'm not mad.
I think she's great television. Don't get me wrong. But I love a bit of drama. I like a bit of high I like it. You know what, I don't mind people are mad as long as they're genuinely mad. And when I say mad, like he's in angry mad, but like he's in a little bit mad. That is great TV.
You know, you get and you get a lot of mad people in drag. That's that's for sure. You have to be pretty.
They have to be pretty mad to be doing drag in the first place. I think it sort of comes with the territory.
But we bloody love it.
There's been some commentary online that the judges can be quite inconsistent with their critiques. So I don't know if you've read any of that. Do you think some of the magic of RuPaul is that it doesn't really take itself too seriously. So you probably can one season say something's a little gross and then the next season not even picking up.
Yeah, no, one hundred percent. And I've been I have I read everything. Unfortunately, I need to stop, but I just want to know what everyone thinks. It's because I'm, as you know, so new.
I just want to know. I don't have any self confidence. Yeah.
I think that the thing about down Under in general is that we do sort of take the piss out of ourselves a lot. And they touched on topics that they, yeah, as you say, last season sort of found a bit grotesque, and they're sort of really embracing it in this one.
And I think that that is down Under in a nutshell. Well that's what we do.
We sort of look at ourselves and go, you know what, that's pretty freaking stupid. Let's make fun of that. It made for a good, reasonably good acting challenge. I use acting loosely there.
It was. It is part of you know, how we how we look at drag for sure.
You know Quen Kong being a little bit flat and episodes one and two has been a real shock. Something else going on that we don't know because both of you were pre show favorites. When you read people interacting with your names being announced, are we missing something like? Is what's going on? Do you think for Queen Kong? And why aren't we seeing the level of drag that people are aware of and know of her?
For Yeah, No, for sure.
I mean I've seen Queen Kong was actually the only person in that room that I've seen live like performing. She was over in Melbourne one time performing with my partner in a show and I was I was blown away, Like I just literally like this is the peak of everything, and she really is an incredible queen, Like I just
I'm in awe of her. But I think unfortunately, with that sort of status of being so well known and being so you know, incredible, you do sort of sometimes get into your head and sort of in the way that I think Mini is as well, and I think Queen and Mani are both sort of in the episodes they are in their heads unfortunately, and it's it's a shame because you know, even watching a bat I know
how incredible Queen can be. And though she you know, did an amazing job in the lip sync and you know, apparently beat me, I know how good she is and I was very nervous going up against her because of that. But let's hope, you know, she she can get out of that kerfuff or and we really do get to see her shine because she is phenomenal.
That's all I'll say.
I think there's still plenty of time for you to shine as well, my friend. I really do, and you know, I want to see what happens with you. I mean, I guess I can't really say that because there's only been one person who's gone before. But let's just talk RuPaul in general. When I've seen people leave a competition, I'm like, yep, I don't need to see them again. If you really feel like that there is a lot more.
Maybe it's not even just RuPaul's drag race. Maybe you're acting, or I just think that you have a lot to offer.
Oh thank you. Yeah.
No, I'm definitely going to be working very hard to make the most of this opportunity, and I'm very lucky to have been given this opportunity in the first place. I really had nothing to lose and only a shit ton to game, so I'm I'm I will be And as you say, yeah, like I have that theater background and singing is where I got into drag and got into performing, I should say, So you're going to be
seeing plenty more of that. I'm still auditioning for all the musicals and things all around Australia, so let's hope something sticks, just like Drag has. And I mean I love Drags so much, it really has sort of you know, it's it's all the gears have sort of clicked into place for me and it really feels like the right
thing to be doing for me at the moment. So I'm working hard to keep growing and getting my Drag out there because I'm pretty proud of what I was able to show and I know I only have way more to show. So I really appreciate that you can see that, and I hope everyone can see that as well.
It's community. I love the fact that you're in a community's yeah that I know in Melbourne is very well supported. Everyone who joins the podcast gets this last question and I don't know if we're getting in any danger with the licensing of what you're allowed to talk about. But my podcast, which I think you're episode one hundred and fifty,
so that's pretty exciting. What is something from behind the scenes, something that we didn't see that we won't see from behind the scenes, Maybe a moment you maybe a deleted scene of sorts, like a tasty morsel from your experience.
Oh yeah, look, I know that that NDA is going to restrict me on this question for sure. And I know I listened to your one with Foe last week, and I know she was very careful around tiptoeing around the question.
Let's skip it then, will skip it and just play shady A Oh no, if you want to do it, though.
I mean, I'm trying to think, yeah, no, I will get in trouble.
Let's go, I Got Shady or Lady, which is a game which basically is a quick, rapid fire five questions. You don't need to go into too much information, just a name or a bit of a something something. Oh I love, so you can say shady or lady, being that if it's shady, you can say what you really think or lady means that you're going to veto the question, So it's up to you.
Oh look, I'm probably gonna be shady on all of them because I look deep down that is that's where I love to be. I love to be a shady little queen. Sometimes it comes across a bit mean, but you know it's part of being.
Dragged absolutely absolutely all right. Now, let's go shady old lady. Who was the most talented in the competition?
Oh well, this isn't even shady. The tea is that the most talented queen is probably Quen Kong. To be honest, Wow, And you know what, I'm going to say that because she's the only bitch that could have sent me home because I'm actually the most talented one.
But I'll let her.
I'll let her be a close second. And since I'm not in it anymore, she can take that title.
Who is the funniest That's a hard one.
I'm gonna say. For me personally, it's Hannah Conda. Hannah gets to be real good. But that's because Hannah and I have a similar I think humor, although like, she's way funnier than I am. Jokes that she does do I fucking love them's. She's hilarious.
Who did you not like or get enough time to really get to know?
Okay, I'm gonna choose Shady. Who did I not like? This is so shady. I don't not like her.
I love her.
Foe is very loud.
She's just very loud, and I, at the best of times, tend to be more of an introvert, especially out of drag and so sometimes that Yeah, she's just just a very loud human.
But I love her and I love that she's loud.
Don't get me wrong, that's it works for her, but it doesn't sometimes work for my ear my ear drugs unfortunately.
Who was the messiest queen?
All Shade?
It's oh for for f You're really testing me here. I'm trying to be so nice because I got a share and I'm not actually that shady in her life. I think that look Spanky's looks are messy, but I love her and she is so fucking amazing.
You got your last question who deserved to go?
If it wasn't you, I'm gonna choose Shady as well again for this song, because you know what you got me at a rough time, I'm in my fields. I watched it bat and there were a couple of queens that I was like, h but if I had to choose one, I love her dearly. And you know what, I say this because I know that she wouldn't hold back either, and she'd be like she'd say she'd throw me under the bus too, I know, but I love her so much and we get along so well. I'd
say Pamara. I think Pamara could have gone.
And anyway, I love it.
I love it, And Aubrey, I just want to say I think you are fantastic. I will be in your audience for a long time. I know the drag race community will be all around the world. I wish you all the very best coming off the back of this competition, and what an honor it has been to be able to have this chat with you.
Oh no, thank you, the honor is all mine.
And yeah, I can't wait to see you or when I'm out there performing yas queen.
Yeah hah